Russia’s Oleg Novitsky and the European Space Agency’s Thomas Pesquet have returned to Eart after spending 197 days in orbit.

"The crew members are feeling well," the spokesman said.

A crew of three - Russia’s Fyodor Yurchikhin and US astronauts Jack Fischer and Peggy Whitson - will go ahead with research on the ISS.

Whitson arrived at the ISS together with Novitsky and Pesquet. When Russia’s crew was reduced last spring and one seat on the Soyuz MS-04 spacecraft remained vacant, her mission was prolonged till September.